Background:

Maya is leading the center of excellence in a young but highly profitable organization called Envisio. This centre of excellence has three key portfolios within it, which too are managed by her. Maya hails from a strong pedigree. Her unparalleled domain knowledge and impeccable work standards makes her stand apart in the organization. At Envisio, Maya started her career as a subject matter expert. Within a span of three years, solely through leveraging on her unmatched domain expertise, work outcomes and commitment, she attained her current position. Maya’s manager always felt that she has an immense potential and is on an accelerated growth path.

Currently, Maya has attained the highest position at Envisio, due to which, she may not witness a vertical growth. She is handling a team of 12 members. As a leader, she is affectionate towards her team members. She maintains high standards of work for her team members, gives on-the-go feedback to her team to ensure that people learn on the fly and improve fast.

Personally, Maya is driven by intellectual stimulation. She would not like to give up an opportunity to apply her skills and to continue to develop those skills to an even higher level. Her sense of identity comes from her domain expertise. While Maya likes to collaborate and guide team members and colleagues, she is not someone who naturally enjoys leadership roles. She has created her own unique style of leadership which is fairly informal and does not align with the popular notions of leadership. With this background, Maya is having an appraisal conversation with her manager, Priya. The excerpts of this conversation are as follows.

Performance Appraisal Conversation:

Priya: Maya, as always, I would like to say that it is a delight to work with a member like you. Last one year was tough for the business, however, you again managed to rise up to the occasion and outdid yourself.

Maya: Thank you, Priya. Appreciate it. Glad to know that I could exceed expectations. Is there anything more that I can do? Any specific feedback?

Priya: Yes, I was coming to that. When it comes to your domain, I have no specific feedback for you. Your ownership and accountability are unmatched and you have ensured error-free work. However, I would like to discuss my observation on your leadership presence. As a leader, you have a significant room to improve. Maya, you need to understand that it is alone on the top and as a leader you need to maintain a certain level of distance from your team members. You cannot reveal your emotions and let them know how you are feeling. While it is required to be affectionate and empathetic, you need to balance it with objectivity.

Maya:  Priya, I am not sure that I understand this. What do you mean when you say that I need to balance it with objectivity? Any specific example? As far as I know, providing on-the-go and real-time feedback to the team members on their performance and setting high performance benchmarks are signs of being objective. I do not accept mediocrity.

Priya: It is not about accepting mediocrity. As a leader, you come across as too frank and casual with your team members. You are like an elder sister and family to them. All your team members deeply respect you and enjoy working with you.  While, this is a good thing, other leaders in the organisation feel that you are protective about your team members. You need to learn to draw a line. Be less frank with them. A good leader is the one who maintains an executive presence.

Maya: Wait a minute! Hang on! How I feel about my team is a concern for anyone? As long as there is camaraderie and positive work attitude that helps in meeting goals, what’s the issue? I mean if my team is motivated, how does it matter how is it attained? Look at the retention data. Every team has seen massive resignations in last one year, except mine. So, isn’t that a reflection on about me doing something right? Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that I am perfect, however, I am unable to understand the relevance of this observation and how is it going to impact the outcomes?

Priya: Please understand that in our experience maintaining a friendly yet a formal relationship with team members helps. It ensures that the leaders and the organisation are not taken for granted. You see, people talk. And, how do you know that what you share with you team is not passed on to other colleagues. People interpret what you speak in different ways and it can lead to unnecessary grapevine.

Maya: With all due respect, kindly share an example. What have I exactly spoken to my team members that got misconstrued?

Priya: Nothing has happened till now. However, it could happen in the future when you have more team members and we need to prepare you for that. Trust me, I have been there! Furthermore, when individuals are as gifted as you, it becomes even more difficult. So, let me help you become a better leader with a strong executive presence. For next year, we will have weekly catch-ups where we will discuss your progress on your executive presence. Works?

Maya: Okay!

Priya: Cool. Any questions that you have for me?

Maya: No.

Priya: Great. Really excited about the times ahead. And once again, keep up the good work. It is a delight to work with you and thank you for all your contribution.

Maya: Sure! Bye!

What do you think happened here?

Debrief:

• The feedback lacked evidence and examples. Maya asked for concrete examples and she did not receive those. Hence, towards the end of the conversation, Maya only agreed for the sake of agreeing.

• The responses that came from Priya were based solely on her past experience. While it is good to reply on past experiences, for Maya, it did not make too much sense. She could not provide any specific examples that were relating to Maya. On the contrary, when Maya asked about retention data, Priya could not even tap address that.

• In this situation, it was critical to understand that Maya is a top talent within the organisation. Telling her to improve on her leadership presence without any data to support it did not yield to desirable outcomes. May be, Maya left feeling that Priya had to point out some development areas/mistakes and hence all they could find is this.

• While giving feedback, it is crucial to Emphasize facts not feelings. Priya’s feedback was based on feelings and not facts.

• Focusing people on their shortcomings doesn’t always enable learning.  It impairs it.

If Priya could have guided Maya on how she can leverage on her existing leadership style to improve her further, that may have proved to be more effective.

• Priya could have asked Maya that how she views herself growing in this organisation. What are her aspirations? May be leadership is not even a focus area/motivator for Maya. In a nutshell, it appeared to be a one-sided feedback, where Priya wanted to steer her own agenda. A feedback conversation conducted in this fashion leaves especially the star employees disillusioned.

• Additionally, Maya was demonstrating an Empathetic leadership style along with setting clear performance goals for her team members. Maya’s philosophy was that great work starts with engaged workers. This type of leader strives to create strong emotional bonds on a team so that those working on it feel a sense of belonging. This style works with a highly competent team members who requires little direction from the leader and yet want to achieve excellence at work. It was important for Priya to understand that her suggested leadership style may not work with this particular team. 

• This conversation also reflects on some of the biases that corporate world has about leadership styles. Just because management models suggests that a particular leadership style will work does not mean that it will work in all situations and with all the people. And if in case there is a preference for a particular leadership style in an organization then that expectation should be set from the start and individuals must be coached on it. Once a leader has practiced an approach, changing it will only cause flux within the team and organization. For example, now if Maya changes her leadership approach, will it resonate well with her team members? May be not.